Otter population

The recovery of the southern sea otter population seems to have stalled. One of the main contributors over the past decade is believed to be white shark attacks, which have increased to become one of the main sources of sea otter fatalities. The U.S. Geological Survey takes surveys each spring on the total population of southern sea otters. If the total reaches more than 3,090 for three consecutive years, the sea otters will be up for delisting from "threatened" to "vulnerable" on the conservation status list.

Southern sea otter population:

2007: 2,818

2008: 2,836

2009: 2,813

2010: 2,711

2011: No count (inclement weather)

2012: 2,792

*Low: 1938: 50

*High: 16,000 (before fur trade of 1700s)

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Huntington Harbour resident Andrea Espejo was enjoying her weekend in the backyard of her bayfront home when the commotion picked up.

"My boyfriend was down working on the boat when he heard a cracking sound," Espejo said. "That's when he saw the little otter about 20 feet away from him, just lying on his back, cracking mussels."

The two snapped photos and yelled across the bay to neighbors to come take a look at their furry friend.

"He didn't care about any of us making a bunch of noise," Espejo said. "He just kept diving and cracking shells."

The June 10 sighting was the latest in a series of local otter sightings since the critter was first spotted in the harbor May 20 and also made a few appearances at the adjacent Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.

"We're examining the photos to see if it was a female, since they are more likely to stay in one place and create new colonies than males are," said wildlife refuge manager Kirk Gilligan, who noted the sighting as the first ever in the refuge. "It's pretty cool to see them getting back down here. I hope it's the first of many sightings."

FROM THE BRINK AND BACK

For marine scientists, the sightings of southern sea otters past Santa Barbara's Point Conception are a welcome sign for a species on the long road to a slow recovery.

With a population once estimated at around 16,000, the southern sea otter roamed the Pacific coast from the Oregon-Washington border down to Baja, Mexico. The fur trade from the late 1700s to early 1900s was thought to have brought the animals with the plush pelts to extinction, but a colony of about 50 otters was discovered in 1938 in a cove near the Bixby Bridge in Big Sur.

"That's the core population of what we have today," said Lilian Carswell, a scientist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service specializing in southern sea otter recovery and marine conservation.

With the Fur Seal Act of 1911, sea otters were granted protection from trapping, and their listing as an endangered species in 1973 protected them from incidental or accidental take from commercial fishing operations and protected vital habitat locations. Over the past 100 years, otters have expanded from the Morro Bay area north and south, with the current population at 2,792, according to the 2012 U.S. Geological Survey.

But that expansion has been stunted by a strange compromise established in the 1980s between the commercial fishing industry and scientists.

In the 1970s, the slow, steady resurgence of the sea otter had scientists hopeful that the marine mammal would expand back into its original zone along the U.S. coastline, but commercial anglers had other ideas.

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Sea otters lounge near Target Rock in the Morro Bay Harbor. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL L. BAIRD
A southern sea otter is spotted in Moss Landing stroking its flippers. The area is known as a place where non-territorial male sea otters and occasional subadult females go, as well as territorial males that are taking a break from their territories. PHOTO COURTESY OF LILIAN CARSWELL
Sea ottters are very territorial, often fighting over feeding and breeding ground. In this instance, two male otters are "gaping" or sizing up the other's teeth, without contact. PHOTO COURTESY OF LILIAN CARSWELL
A male sea otter is released at New Brighton Beach in May 1992 as part of the relocation program that prohibited otters from traveling south of Point Conception. The program caused severe stress to the animals, and was suspended in 1993 and finally ended in 2012. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
Sea otter wranglers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service release a sea otter into holding pen during the Sea Otter Relocatin program of 1982 that transported sea otters from California's coast to San Nicolas Island. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICES
A southern sea otters is transferred via airplane from mainland California to San Nicolas Island as part of the sea otter relocaiton program established in 1982. The program was created to establish a "reserve" population of sea otters in case of a local catastrophe, but the project was deemed a failure, and ende din 2012. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICES
A diver holds a sea otter net used to capture and relocate the marine mammals out of the Southern California "no otter zone" back north above Point Conception. The diver had to wait until the otter fell asleep, and approach them from below to capture them. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICES
Sea otter wranglers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service release a sea otter into holding pen during the Sea Otter Relocatin program of 1982, that transported sea otters from California's coast to San Nicolas Island. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
A southern sea otter does a lateral roll while lounging at California's Moss Landing. The area is known as a place where non-territorial male sea otters and occasional subadult females go, as well as territorial males that are taking a break from their territories. PHOTO COURTESY OF LILIAN CARSWELL
Southern sea otters are on the long road to recovery. The furry mammals once had a popluation around 16,000 but the fur trade brought them to near extinction. Today, their numbers hover just below 3,000 as they continue to spread out to their original habitat. NICOLE LAROCHE , U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
A large amount of time, money and energy went into the sea otter relocation program established in 1982. The effort led to the creation of a sea otter colony at San Nicolas Island, and the establishment of a "no otter" zone south of Point Conception. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICES

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